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Mark Ellis
Mark Andrew Ellis (born June 6, 1977, in ) is a Major League Baseball second baseman, currently playing for the Colorado Rockies. Early career Ellis attended the University of Florida and was a ninth-round selection by the Kansas City Royals in the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft. He was acquired by the A's along with outfielder Johnny Damon and pitcher Cory Lidle in a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Ben Grieve, shortstop Angel Berroa, and catcher A.J. Hinch. Major league career Ellis made his major-league debut in , batting .272 in 98 games. He followed by hitting .248 the following season, but missed the entire season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder resulting from a collision with shortstop Bobby Crosby in a spring training game against the Chicago Cubs. In , he returned to the Athletics and had a successful season, leading the team in batting average (.316), on base percentage (.384), and slugging average (.477) as the team's regular second baseman. On May 14, 2006, Ellis was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat as part of the Mother's Day Strikeout Challenge benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. In , Ellis broke Bret Boone's single-season American League record for a second baseman with a .99685 fielding percentage, although the Gold Glove Award went to the Royals' Mark Grudzielanek. Ellis missed most of the A's 2006 post-season due to a hand injury suffered during Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins. On June 4, , Ellis became only the sixth player in Oakland Athletics history to hit for the cycle. On July 23, 2007, he had his first career multi-home run game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. On August 5, 2007, he tied the A's team record for consecutive error-less games by a second baseman at 70 games. On March 25, , in the MLB season opener in Tokyo, Japan, Ellis hit a solo home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first inning of a game the Red Sox would eventually win 6-5. He has a career batting average of .257 and holds the major league record for the most career home runs by a player born in South Dakota (70, through the end of the 2008 season). Ellis missed the last two months of the season due to cartilage damage in his shoulder. He underwent successful surgery that also fixed a torn labrum from a previous injury. He is expected to be cleared to play second base on March 25, though he is cleared to DH before then. In October 2008, the Athletics signed Ellis to an US$11 million contract through 2010, with an option of extending the deal an additional season. Personal life Ellis is married with one child, a son named Briggs, who was born in the same week that Ellis hit for the cycle. Statistics See also * Hitting for the cycle References External links Category:University of Florida alumni Category:People from Rapid City, South Dakota Category:Oakland Athletics players Category:Major League Baseball second basemen Category:Baseball players who have hit for the cycle Category:Major League Baseball players from South Dakota Category:Florida Gators baseball players Category:Spokane Indians players Category:Wichita Wranglers players Category:Sacramento River Cats players Category:Second Basemen Category:Players